How to cancel your Criterion Channel subscription

The Criterion Channel homepage
(Image credit: Criterion)

There are a seemingly endless amount of streaming services available today, including The Criterion Channel. But whether you find yourself wanting to cancel your Criterion Channel subscription because either you need to trim your budget, you don't watch it often enough or whatever the reason, the good news is that unsubscribing to the streaming service can be done in a few steps.

We've outline all the basic facts that you need to know about how to cancel you Criterion Channel subscription below, from the step-by-step process of actually doing it to some alternatives to canceling that the platform offers.

How to cancel Criterion Channel

If you're simply ready to cut bait on The Criterion Channel, then here is the basic step-by-step process to cancel your service from the website:

  1. Go to the settings menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen, click on "Manage subscription"
  2. Click on "Cancel Subscription"
  3. When prompted with the option to "Pause subscription," instead select "No thanks, I want to cancel"
  4. You can choose to fill out an optional survey or simply click "Cancel subscription" to finalize
  5. A confirmation popup will appear and you'll receive an email confirmation as well
  6. If you do not receive an email confirmation, you can check that your status in settings is labeled as "Canceled"

The steps for canceling a subscription can vary if you signed up on a platform besides the website, including Apple TV, Google Play/Android app, The Roku Channel or Amazon.

If you signed up for your Criterion Channel subscription through the website, you can only cancel through the website, not any of these other apps. 

Pausing your Criterion Channel subscription

There is an alternative to completely canceling your subscription to The Criterion Channel — as mentioned above, there is an option to pause your Criterion Channel account for a period of time.

The Criterion Channel allows subscribers to pause their account for up to three months, during which time they will not be charged the monthly subscription fee.

The pause option can be found through the same basic steps you do to go about canceling a subscription. The Criterion Channel will prompt you with the option to "Pause subscription" when you go to "Manage subscription" in the settings menu. And then even if you at first choose to cancel your subscription, a popup will again ask you if you'd like to pause your subscription for one, two or three months. Simply select any of these options to institute a pause in your account.

For more information, visit The Criterion Channel website.

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Michael Balderston

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.

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